UPDATE: Police identify body found in Leipsic River as murder victim

The body of a male subject located in the Leipsic River Tuesday has been identified as Tony Mozick, 45, of Leipsic. Mozick was killed and then dumped in the Leipsic River in January.

Delaware State Police were dispatched to the area of the Leipsic River Bridge Tuesday around noon after a witness who was trapping in the area located a body of a subject submerged underneath the bridge, police said.

DNREC, along with members of the Leipsic Fire Company responded to the area and recovered the body of a male who was then turned over to the State Medical Examiner's Office and transported to Wilmington where he has been positively identified as Mozick.

Police said the Medical Examiner's Office has ruled the cause of death to be homicide with the manner of death being multiple stab wounds.

The investigation began on Jan. 8 when the victim's mother contacted State Police to file a missing person report on her son, Tony Mozick. The mother informed troopers that her son comes to her house in Leipsic daily where he is given medication due to a disability. The last time she heard from Tony was the evening of Jan. 5 when she talked to him over the phone.

Research conducted by detectives, who were investigating the missing person case, revealed an incident that occurred on Dec. 12 where troopers were called to the unit block of West Street in Leipsic for a reported domestic. In that occurrence, police said Tony Mozick was a victim of an assault when he was attacked by his daughter, Jennifer L. Barnes, 23, of Leipsic, and her boyfriend, Gerard T. Schweiger, 24, of Felton. After the two were arrested, Barnes and Schweiger were issued a no contact order that prohibited them from being at the residence where Mozick lives. Through witness accounts, it was determined that Barnes was allowed back at the residence due to her four children that are five years old and younger, police said.

On Jan. 15 at approximately 9 a.m., detectives from the Troop 3 Criminal Investigations Unit and Homicide Unit responded to the residence on West Street and conducted a search warrant. Police said investigators located a large amount of blood near the victim's bedroom and a portion of the carpet in the room had been removed and discarded across the street. Jennifer Barnes, who was at the house at the time of the search with her four young children, was transported to Troop 3 near Camden for further questioning. The children were turned over to a relative.

Through interviews and evidence located at the scene, it was determined that on the night of Jan. 5, Gerard Schweiger was invited over to the house on West Street by Jennifer Barnes. Once inside the house, Schweiger was confronted by Mozick and a physical altercation ensued. During the struggle, Schweiger allegedly used a small knife and stabbed Mozick multiple times, police said. Barnes and Schweiger then allegedly placed the victim's body in a 55-gallon plastic tote container and moved it out to a garage behind the house where they left it overnight. On the night of Jan. 6, police said the couple then allegedly loaded the container into a vehicle and drove to the bridge on Fast Landing Road just outside of Leipsic and threw it into the Leipsic River.

Gerard Schweiger was taken into custody Jan. 15 in Odessa and transported back to Troop 3 where he and Jennifer Barnes were arrested for Murder 1st, Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony, Conspiracy 1st, four counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, Abusing a Corpse, and Breach of Release.

The two were arraigned at Justice of the Peace Court 7 and Schweiger was committed to James T. Vaughn Correctional Center while Barnes was committed to Delores J. .Baylor Women's Correctional Institute, both without bail.